Published at 19th of February 2026 7:15 am

Chapter 2009 Dealing with the Plague 1

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On the surface of a distant planet, somewhere deep within Mid Sector 99-

"Grrrr-"

A crimson plague, nearly two meters in height, slowly rose and stood atop a towering rock formation. It spread its elongated arms to their full extent, lifting a face erased of every feature except a grotesque mouth packed with jagged fangs. From that mouth, it unleashed a savage roar toward the sky-a rough, scraping sound accompanied by a violent exhalation, carrying with it a nauseating stench, the unmistakable smell of decomposing corpses and long-dead flesh.

Naturally, this cry was never meant to be heard, nor was it directed at the plague itself. Such creatures possessed no sense of hearing at all. Everything it wished to communicate was delivered through that vile odor alone. The roar itself served another purpose entirely-it was a warning, a declaration of hostility, aimed at any other being unfortunate enough to possess the ability to hear it.

"Graaa-"

Puff Puff

Dozens of crimson plague members responded at once, roaring in unison and releasing waves of similarly foul scents in answer to the first.

Among them were young cubs still growing into their strength, females with leaner frames, and hardened warriors who wore grim trophies around their necks-necklaces crafted from fangs, or from noses that looked disturbingly human in origin.

Not a single one of them reached a height of three meters, and none bore that dreadful white hair said to mark true royalty. There was no king among them. And yet, the one who stood above the rest, atop the rock, was without question the closest thing they had to a monarch.

"Graaa gra gra-" the plague individual on the rock continued to "speak," releasing an increasingly complex mixture of scents, layered and deliberate, each carrying meaning. Surrounding him were no fewer than two thousand Demons, packed tightly together.

Their expressions visibly shifted-anger deepening, bloodlust rising. One by one, all of them physically turned their bodies northward, toward the location of the nearest human village. Claws slid free, scraping against flesh and stone alike as they prepared themselves for the coming slaughter.

"Graaa graaaa-" the plague leader gestured violently in that direction, letting out a full war cry while lifting a massive tree branch high above his head, signaling the advance.

But suddenly-

Puff

His body collapsed in place, dropping lifelessly onto the rock. The stream of odors he had been emitting cut off instantly, severed in the middle of the command to move forward.

"...?!" The remaining Demons froze. Their momentum vanished, and one after another they turned back toward the rock, instinctively waiting for further orders.

Then something deeply unsettling began to unfold among them-

Puff puff puff

Demons started falling. One after another, their bodies dropped to the ground without warning.

"Gaa!!" The survivors finally sensed that something was terribly wrong. Even though they could not hear, see, or consciously feel anything out of place, their brothers were collapsing all around them-and moments later, their scents vanished completely.

Why were their brothers' scents disappearing? Even in death, the stench of their bodies should have lingered for an incredibly long time, their remains polluting the ground beneath them. But there was nothing. No rot. No trace. Where had they gone?!

Puff puff

"Graaaa!!!" One of the strongest warriors among them perceived overwhelming danger. He slammed his foot into the ground and launched himself away from the area at maximum speed, desperate to escape-but-

Bam

He slammed into an invisible wall suspended in midair and crashed down where he stood.

Then-stab-he felt something pierce straight through his neck.

Pain flooded him.

He tried to scream, but no sound came. He tried to release warning scents, but his body refused to respond. Control slipped away entirely... though even that quickly became irrelevant. Had he possessed an eye at that moment, he would have seen a blinding white light erupt from his neck, and watched as his body disintegrated into something resembling ash, scattering into the wind.

From beginning to end, the entire process took only a few seconds. That needle-like pain was brief, fleeting-and soon, he was freed from it.

Freed from life itself.

That plague individual vanished completely. His body left behind not a single

trace.

"Phew I really thought it was going to escape."

Beside the place where that plague creature had met its end stood a figure clad in gleaming white armor, its surface polished to a brilliant shine and intricately inlaid with elegant golden patterns. The man let out a slow breath, the tension finally leaving his body, then casually waved toward someone nearby. "Thanks

for the help."

"My pleasure~"

Not far away, a girl dressed in a white-and-gold robe waved back at him with ease. It was unmistakably a robe reserved for Soul Masters. She was the one who had stopped the plague creature at the crucial moment, preventing it from completing its jump and escaping the battlefield.

Without wasting even a second, the girl immediately shifted her focus, moving to reinforce the containment of the remaining plague creatures.

The soldier in white-and-gold armor turned his head, scanning the surroundings with calm, practiced movements. "Alright, alright... who's next?"

He then began walking toward a nearby female plague creature with extreme composure, his pace unhurried, as though there were no danger at all. He extended his white spear and drove it straight into her chest. Bloof

The instant the spear struck, a dense, radiant light erupted from its shaft, gently but relentlessly cleansing the female plague from the inside outward. There was no scream, no struggle-she turned into ash almost immediately,

dispersing into the air.

"Next-"

The soldier turned his body slightly to the side, already preparing himself to deliver the next strike.

But as he walked, something unusual occurred within his armor-something entirely automatic, triggered without conscious thought...

A small metallic component slid out from the shoulder guard. It spun rapidly in place, releasing a fine powder that coated the soldier's armor and spread through the surrounding area, before smoothly retracting back into its original

position.

That powder was an invention created by the First Heaven Chosen to curb the devastation caused by the crimson plague-an innovation that had given the planet Nihari a chance to survive for hundreds of thousands of years after the plague first appeared upon its surface... a powder capable of rendering a person completely invisible to the plague's terrifying sense of smell.

After twenty minutes-

Stab

One of the soldiers drove his spear into the head of a plague creature and held

it there until the body fully disintegrated into dust. He then looked around the battlefield, confirmed the situation, and gave a firm nod. "Alright. This nest has

been purified."

"Haha, so this is what fighting the plague is like?"

"All that long training... feels like t was for nothing."

The soldiers began removing their helmets one after another, relaxing at last

and leaning casually against their spears. Their number did not exceed fifty in total-every one of them young, none appearing to have even reached the age of twenty yet.

"I could've wiped them out on my own if I'd known that powder was this

effective, hehe~"

The young Soul mistress boasted in a bright, cheerful voice, clearly pleased

with herself. Ironically, she had been the most frightened among them before

the operation had begun.

"Tsk tsk~ Don't let arrogance get to your head, Sister Himi. Without the Merged

Purity Light Law invented by His Majesty, things wouldn't have gone this smoothly. If you'd tried to kill them using your Soul techniques alone, it would've taken far more time-and many of them would've escaped." "True enough. We're the ones who did all the work. Long live Purity Light!!"

"Silence, you bunch of idiots."

At that moment, a powerful voice echoed across the area, heavy with authority. Every soldier immediately snapped to attention. Even the Soul mistress tightened her grip on her staff with both hands and stepped back respectfully. At that same moment, an additional figure arrived at the site-a towering person nearly three meters tall, whose presence alone caused the atmosphere to subtly shift.

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